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OR, 



yjjii,TjiiM! 



A DRAMA IN FOUR ACTS. 



BY ADELLA R. WORDEN. 



YPSILANTI, MICH. 

1879. 






THESBA'S BABE; 



OR, 



RETRIBUTION: 



i\ |}raina in Faxtr Acts. 



r 

BY ADELLA R. WORDEN. 






yPSILANTI, MICH. 

1879. 






^>' 



Entered accordmg to Act of Congress, in the year 1879, by 

ADELLA R. WORDEN, 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress. 



PRINTED AT THE 

BENTlNEIi PBINTING HOrSE. 

YPSILAKTI, MICH. 



TMPS2-007640 



THESBA'S BABE3 OF'BETllBUTTOK 



DRAMATIS PERSON.E : 



Hermetus, Cambist of Rome, 
Termenes, Citizen of Venice. 
Mazzo, Artist. 
Feldamor, Bandit Chief. 
GiANiNA, daughter to Termenes. 
GoLiNE, daughter to Hermetus. 
Claudia, mother to Goline. 
Nan, Egyptian Sorceress. 



Capo, a Clown. 
NoRvo, son to Nan. 

JosEF [ ^^rvants to Termenes 
Julia, maid to Claudia. 
John Brownell, a traveler. 



Doctor, Priest, Monk, First and Second Voices, Page. 



ACT I. 

SCENE I. Borne. A street. 
Enter Feldamor, l, and Capo, r. 

Fel. Capo, salute ! How smile the fates since you were capering at 
the carnival? You have a greenish cast, a dogged unsettled look, as one 
m love. 

Capo. In love ? Aye, that's well said, but deucedly irrelevant ! — 
I'm out of luck, and lien, and luggage— therefore out of love. You 
know me, then ? 

Fel. Since when I hailed within these seven hills, I've heard your 
blabbering on every turnstile. I like you for your clownishness, and 
would engage your service — a princely stipend, if you play me well. 

Capo. In faith, good sire, I know you not. 

Ffl. Your silence on me or your life! My name is — Feldamor ! 

Capo, (aside) The gods protect me, the wild brigand ! Hold, sire, 
my service is bespoke, {aside) I am no doughhead for the target of 
banditti. 

Fel. Spewling ! Spit no more of this. I ask no service other than 
your own. Be what you are, I but engage you for your tricks. Join 
you the minstrels in my gang— go you ahead — attract the citizens, and 
then give way to their amusements. 

Capo. Well, I'll engage, with twenty sequins down. 

Fel. So be it ; though 'twere labor poorly made when once the price 
is paid. Shack, zany ! Thou shall truckle to my statute, the veriest 
vassal to rapacious greed. Ere long I come disguised. When you shall 
shall see this signal, follow me (signals). ti«i 9ill ■* [Exit, 



4 thesba's babe, [act I 

Capo. Gold ! GoU ! Tbe devil's rancorous fire ! 
Which burns of hell in every mad desire ! 
Ha, ha! rogue, you have caught a rogue. He likes me for my tricks. — 
Ay, tricks shall trick him. What comes? A pilgrim by his looks. I 
would not wash his feet for all his luggage {retires). 

Enter Brownell with traveling hag. 

Bko- (too^-m^ aro2<?id) And this is Rome! Great city of the dead! 
How swells my soul in contemplation ! Here rests the king, the plebiau 
and the slave, one in the dust ! What then is greatness, what is fame, 
that man should go in search of it ? An ignis fatuus — a hocus po- 
cus— rotten punk ! Yonder behold the dome of great St. Peter's Church 
— an huTible fisherman to get so great a name 1 Who would not lie un- 
to a damsel for a monument like that ! 

Capo, {aside) It was a d d sell, sure. 

Beo. Little did Peter think, when flapped that cock to crow, 

That generations yet unborn should bow to kiss his toe — 
I pant for glory more than natural drink ! The spiritual I needs must 
take for this my stomach's sake — Oh! for a name ? To stand in some 
great vestibule of art, cut out in living stone — envied of men ! To have 
my picture on the drop of some great theater, for maidens to throw kiss- 
es at between the acts, while he, the proud adorer, faint with love, goes 
out to stimulate with cloves ! Oh ! for a name ! a name ! There runs 
the stream so famed in poetry and song- {sings) Rome, capitol of Italy, 
upon the Tiber river. 

Capo, {coming up) Well sung, good pilgrim. 

Bko. {confused) What, sir — What, sir — What say — I am a trav- 
eler doing Rome. 

Capo. Methought the song from thine uplifted eyes 
Must be to laughing Venus as she flies. 

Bk6. Thou talk'st in rhyme, my fellow ; thou art a poet. 

Capo. Name me not thus ; it were no test of art 
To judge the whole by an unfinished part. 

Bro. Thou art an improvisitor ! {coming up) We must be friends, 
fiistronic genius and poetic art walk ever hand in hand. I do congratu- 
late myself I met you. My heart bursts — 

Capo, {aside) Burst not on me. 
- Bro. — with the rapture of a new found love — ahem ! This is the 
clime whose balmy breath, kissing the petals of unfolding thought, 
flushes with roseate hue the burstmg— ahem — substance of the brain-^ 
ahem — till, like some fair exotic, fraught with dreamy sense, it bursts^— 
bursts — ahem — bursts — Hold to my hand ! I mount ! I fly ! 'Twere 
as some spirit did indite the words — ahem ! Sweet land of sunsets and 
of guah — ahem — gush— 

Capo. Good frien3, thou hast an overmuchness of this "gush." Let 
up, else I do swear thou art a lunatic. 

Bro. Blest with a nature susceptible and soft — 

Capo. Soft by 

Bro. I cannot feast with corpulency that I do not swell with fatness, 
with lean men but I, too, get lean. In company with cripples, I do halt 
and limp till that my joints do twist out and crack with sytopathetic pain. 
•Surrounded by the fairer sex, I grow a paragon of perfect loveliness. 



ACT l] OK, KETEIBUTIOX. 5 

80 when I do assimilate with angels — I mean with poets — that is — when 
I assimilate, I soar — assimilate, I soar — ahem— I soar— soar — 

Capo. Chameleon, speak thy name. Come down from thy celestial 
heights, ere I do plait thee up a laurel wreath, and christen thee Apollo. 

Bro. Know'st thou not whom thou hast the honor to address? 

Capo. I know thou art no commoner. 

Bro. John Brownell, sir; John Brownell, the great historian!— 
Heard'st thou not of the day when I set sail for this, thy boot-shaped 
country, scarcely a month ago ? Nor have I stopped to parley on the 
way, coming direct upon my field of thought, here 10 take notes Yes, 
I shall write a history of Rome, that any child ran read. It shall be 
found in each department of our public schools— none of these Pompus 
Pilius words for juveniles— the Anglo-Saxon plain. Each school-child 
in the land shall have one — an enormous sum past computation ! A 
thousand presses going night and day scarce can supply demand- papers 
throughout the world will give it locals, and all— I beg your pardon, 
friend, my business presses me. You seem in haste to go. I would in- 
quire, friend, where shall I find a scholar to conduct me— my time is 
limited to thirty days. 

Capo, (aside) Thirty days to do Rome ! You mean a guide ? 

Bbo. The same. 

Capo. Accept my service and my time is yours. 

Bro. 1 could embrace you ! (aside) propitious fate ! Demand your 
price, it shall be doubly paid, (tueeps) Kind friend, it overcomes me In 
a land of strangers thus to meet congenial ones. 

Capo. I blush at mention of a price. The merest trifle to assure the 
bond, 

Bro. Here ; take this gold. It is a farthing to my gratitude. 

Unter Feldamor disguised as a Prince. 

Capo. Good cheer, your highness ; I would detain you. This is my 
classic friend Brownell, the great historian. Brownell, this is Prince 
Philegas. 

Bro. Your royal highness, I appreciate the condescnsion. Long 
may you live to reign triumphant. 

Fel. The same to you in scholarly attainments, (signals) {Exit 

Capo. Good friend, I follow to the palace of the Prince. I'll meet 
you at St. Peter's early mass, (goes) 

Bro. Hold you ! I would your title. 

Capo. Well said. My name is Signor Capo. {Exit 

Bro. Aye, Mr. Signo Capo ; most distinguished name and more dis- 
tinguished personage. His mind a store-house; his language poetry ; 
his company sought for by nobility ; a very jewel of a guide. "St. Pe- 
ter's early mass. " I'm lost to situation— I should have asked description. 
I'll go aside and hire me a second guide to show me my first guide— ha, 
ha! 

Noise of Trumpets in the distance. Enter minstrels Norvo, ToNh, 
ViLLKTTK and GiANiNA, singinQ. 

We stand upon the king's highway, 

While dancing nymphs sport on the green, 



6 thesba's babe, [act i 

We fling, we flino- our wreaths away. 
To crown, to crown this festive scene. 

Chorus of 'minstrels. 

Bring offerings great, bring ciforings small, 
, We take them all, we take them all; 
And while we wend our onward way, 
We beg, we beg to come another day. 

GiANiNA ivith harp sings. 

There lay beside the waters wide 
A woman, fair and azure-eyed, 

Watching her child at play ; 
Each pebble seemed a painted toy, 
Each plashing wave a fairy joy, 

As sped the hours away : 
When to the sleep, with sudden leap, 
An elf sprang from the liquid deep, 

And bore the child away. 

Chorus of minstrels, 
.Bring offerings great, etc. 

Enter Mazzo. 

Maz. {to GiA. throuying coin into her lap) Hail, pretty maid I I 
I'ke your singing well, but more I like your attiiude in repos3. I would 
that I might sketch that hand, that lays so light upon the harp; its grace 
would well accord with ray Madonna, {touches hand) 

GiA. Desist from contact with my flesh. I am a strolling singer, it 
is true— 

Maz. Disarm your fears, fair maid. I gaze upon you as sculptor 
might a sylph in marble, but to transfer its fair proportions. 

ViL. Good sire, if I might do as well, a little sum would tempt me. 

Maz. I am not rich, and furthermore blind to your charms. C^oGia.) 
Yowr hand, sweet, is so fair — [Nokvo and Villette converse apart 

ToKi. Hold, hold ! No love-sick twaddle there,you rake! Out with 
year gold I Enough, she is your model, {to Gia.) Stand up, you sulk- 
ing calliope ! 

Maz. I pray you, strike her not. I would not copy an unwilling 
maid; but what I have, that would I give {to Gia.) for thy consent. 
Giant me an hour's sitting, and if abashed, a veil shall screen you from 
my gaze. - . 

Gia. Nay; 'tis enough, skulking like any dog about your streets, 
ft thing of scorn, to ask me greater degradation. A^e, force me if you 
Avill; ray fair proportions shall distorted be, and this same hand a claw 
become, to filch your greedy eyes— 

ToNi. We are no foxes caught with putrid scent. Show up the 
•raouey ; she shall go your way. 

g|MAZ. Not so; I wait the pleasure of the maid, {to Gia.) A little 
t ime may change that frown lo blushes on thy cheek. 



ACT ij OR,. RETRIBUTION. 7 

ToNi. Grin there, you wench, or by the fates your soul shall bioii id 
Tantalus. 

Maz. Here, in great mercy take her hire. Get j'ou on hence, nor let 
me think on this ! My brain is maddened by the sight ! {throws coin.) 

[Exit^ throwing hiss at Gia. 

All scrarnhle for coin. 

ToNi. The dastard ! Blow away, thistle-down ; puff ! puff \ 

NoK. Here, give it up. 

Toxi. A pretty softy ; this would twice have paid her hire. 

Nor. He was more kind than any christian. 

ViL. Methought he had no eye for charms, to take yon lagged serf. 

ToNi. He has no eye for tinsel, minx. No dress at all were beauty 
best arrayed, thinks he, and so think I. 

ViL. What looks a butterfly with wings, without is but a grub, 

ToNi. Some fishes bite for grubs that will not dangle on a painted 
hook. 

NoK. Gome, we'll along; Gianina is in tears. 

Enter Feldamoh and Capo. 

Fel. What's all this hubbub on the public stile ? Hie to your roosls, 

tiip sun IS set. (7'o Gia.) Hush up your blubber! What the devil'g 
up ? 

ViL. She's got above herself, she has. 

Fel. {to ViL.) Push out, you slabber-sided sow 1 {to Gia.) Get on, 

you slut ! ^ \Exit 

Capo, (going) He likes me for my tricks, ha, ha ! , Exit 

Enter Mazzo. 

Maz. Darkness already steals upon the air ; the street is silent, sense- 
less as this breast. 'Tis done I The shaft within my heart no more may 
be withdrawn than the shot lightning can recall its spent velocity. Ne'er 
saw I such divinity in flesh ! Her liquid eyes o'er-leapt their flood-gates 
when they fell on me,cleansing my soul of ev'ry fancied love, till all my 
being, like a spotless page, stands written in her image. Aye ; when 
the demon clutched her, and her loose bodice parted in the tray, nor Ra- 
phael's Venus could o'er-match her breast of faultless contour I Never 
such charms were bred in the foul Ir ins of that dreed monster, he who 
for pelf swaddles her beauty in decaying rags, and holds her as a model 
lo the trade — and I, forsooth, did barter at her shrine in holiest bargain- 
ing. Her frown dismissed me, nor for a world would I displace myself 
in her good grace — but other daubs will drag her to their stand, and what 
my brush would deify, will grow an amorous queen, glaring in hideous 
paint ! 

Enter Page, hands note and retires. 

Maz. {reads) Goline ! The gods protect me, pity more than blame, 
I did forget my bends ! Contracts are cob- webs, which do break when 
Jove pursues! Goline, thy claims are sacredly premised, and must be 
met. [Exevni 



8 THESE a'S babe, [aCT I 

SCENE 11. IIonieofllEUJ^LETV6. A/i ciDarfmeni. Claiwi a. walk- 
ing U'p and down, Goline reclining on sofa, Hermetus in easy 
chair. 

Clau. I am so worked about this dalliance, my nerves are jerking 
like a whip-cord. Goline, bow can you lie upon that settle when I'm in 
such a fever? It should be you, not me, to bear this racket. This suit 
has cost me many sleepless nights, while you, I trow, scarce trouble in 
your waking hours. 

OoL. Hush you, good mother ; Mazzo will not be long, and oh I this 
charming scene, where Julia meets her love ! 

Clau. Have you no thought of him whom you must meet ! 
GoL. Scarcely, I own, since I have known of this dear Count, List, 
till I read you how, with bounding heart, she springs to his embrace I 
Uee. {throws down paper) C\2M(\\di\ Claudia I Becalm yourself. 

I woL not you are more in love with this d d artist than the maid 

herself. Bother the drat ! I'd better pleased he never come — kept me 
from loans which would have filled my coffers over full. He comes be- 
fore the clock goes round, or he goes suing other money bags ! 
Clau. Goline, heard you your sire's words ? Goline I 
GoL. Good mother, did you speak ? 

Hek. 1 said, and I repeat, that he who so aspires to your hand must 
come within the hour, or, by the furies, he'll unhitch with me, andt^pay 
his loll from other sacks than mine ! 

GoL. Is it so late 'i Oh, my most worthy sire, I pray you be not 
hard; Mazzo has many calls, and he, as I, may not be mindful of the 
hour. 
Clau. {aside to Gol. ) Did you dispatch the page ? 
GoL. In truth I did. 

Her. Women are bats, that flop and flounder in their blindness! 
Hear me in this ! Ambition in his soul takes precedence of love. He 
crossed the sea, traversed the burning sand, to hunt an Ethiope to squat 
upon his canvas-. You set a time in which to name your nuptials, he 
forgets the hour, or not forgetting, keeps you- iu suspense, with no re- 
grets. Out on the contract with such lethargic — 

Clau. Nay, my lord ; it is his heart that doth his brain inspire. He 
gets not any title but Goline must know to share it with him. Mark you 
the day he gained the medal at the gallery, when the enamored crowd 
closed in upon him, and with honied words sung to his praise; he flf^d 
their honors, and to Goline like as a schoolboy hurried, and from her 
shining hair twisted a cord of gold and hung it to her neck, saying the 
while, "So all my triumphs but as jewels hang for thine adornment." 

Her. a softly thing ! A very gosling habited as man ! Better he 
meet appointments at their due. Such watery condiment for love! 
Love is a fire within, whose flame sleeps in sulphuric gases ; give it es- 
cape, it bursts a lapping fiend, wreathing its victim in devouring heat, 
till heart, life and eternity crumble to ashes in his track ! 

Gol. So bursts Vesuvius, my sire ; but note how soon the lava cools. 
Mazzo and I have been betrothed since childhood. The wildest beast 
grows tame when handled as a cub ; so with our love. 'T has grown 
like as ray arm, which while I have it gives me no concern, sever the mem- 



ACT l] OH, KETRIBUTION. 9 

ber every nerve within rae wnJhes, and (he bearfs blood leaps (JUt to 
stay the fleeJDg pulse. 

EnU/r Ma/.zo. 

GoL. Mazzo, my love, Ihe hour is late, but come — 

Her. {howiny stiffly) Good day, if 'tis not yet to-morrow. 

Maz. Your pardon, sire, and madam, and Goline ; my studies did 
absorb my mind, nor thought I 'twas the hour till that your page diol 
bring me word. I trust I have not lost in your good grace ? 

Clau. (affectionately) We should forget ourselves to think an ill 
of thee, (to Her.) and since the hour is late, my lord, we best defer our 
counsels till the morn. 

Her. And tote me to the tune of handy, aye ! 

GoL. Good moiher, you are pale ! 

Clatt. I'm really very ill ! Hermetus, support rae to ray couch. 
(to Maz.) You will allow us, I am very ill. 

GoL. Shall I— 

Clatt. (aside to Gol.) He■^i in a passion — we mu?t get him out I 
Hermetus, will you come? 1 have a faint! Assist me if you will » 

Her Goline, loose up her apron strings, and call the servants to her 
aid. I'll have this business ended, if the devil has a fit — ended to-night ? 

\£ixif Or, AT and Go/>. 

Enter ^vLi A. 

Jul. Master, who's down ? 

Her. Go to the madame's chamber for her orders. [Exit Jvlim 

Maz. And is your lady subject to these turns ? 

Her. They subject her convenience, But you — What calls you to my 
domicile, that I needs tarry from my trade and work myself into a lob- 
ster at your pleasure? 

Maz. Good sire, you do mistake my purpose, if you count my pleasure 
in your discontent. You are no stranger to the contract which ha» 
bound your daughter and myself these many years. Go cool yourself, 
and if you like me not, be bold to own it — I would not pilfer in youf 
fruit though it were watering in its ripeness I 

Enter Julia. 

Jul. Master Hermetus, the lady, sire, is very, very ill. 

Her. Go to the d 1 with your women's fidgets! (Exit Jul) They 

tack to larboard when the wind is foul and bellies not to their caprice. 
What bring you in exchange for this endowment of my loins ? What 
surety for her maintenance ! 

Maz. I have my love, my prospects, my am 

Her. Hold there, you sapling ! You are glutted full, stuffed to the 
gills, with prospects in my money bags ! Go, thou blood sucker of per- 
dition ! Vampire of gluttony ! 

Maz . (aside) Only that I had that passion into paint ! 

Her. Go to thou parasite of hell ! 



10 thesba's babe, I'MJi' I 

J^nier Claudia and Julia. 

Clau. {screuminy) Oh, oh ! Hermclus, I am dying— dyiug— and 
you will not come ! {falls on sofa, hands Maz. note unobserved) 

Her. Ob, Claudia ! ' Speak to me ! Am I too late ? Most wretched 
liin ! Claudia! She cannot speak to me! Heaven lorgivc-^Claudia ! 
Claudia, speak to Hermetus— tell him he is forgiven— speak ! Go for 
the doctor ! 

Maz. {puts note in 2)0cket) 1 v^'iW ^iieu'^ {(jors) 

Jul. Two messengers have gone already. Here comes the pil.l-matv 
now. *^Ar>"' 

Enter Dootoe. 

Hek. Save her, oh; doctor ! save her, or 1 die ! 

Doc. Be silenced, man. {stis by , feels pulse) it is a cleai- affection 
of the heart ; such paroxysms often end in death. 

Heu. Most dread malady, most dire complaint ! Aifectioa of the 
heart ! Doctor, is there a likelihood that I be now exposed to thi^ 
disease ? 

Doc. Trouble you not, it seldom ravages the male persuasiou — 1 might 
-ssay never. Remove your lady to her couch at once ; let no one enter 
but the servants of the house, not e'en her daughter. 

Her. Doctor is she so bad, so dying low ? 

Doc. And you must hold her hand an hour by the clock, giving these 
soothing drops betimes, 'till from a hundred beats the pulse is seventy. 

Her. Oh, never fear ; I will not leave her form for my provender! 
Most lovely Claudia ! She called to me, I would not come. Oh, saint- 
ly Claudia! [Exeunt all carrying Claudia on sofa 

Enter Mazzo. 

Maz. She has played well, and won on him at last — disgraceful panto- 
mine — a loathsome poition for a nuptial banquet ! A beastly sire — in- 
triguing dame and most unloving paramour ! The mask is off, the face 
is bold and black, and must I wed it ? Saintly mother, bend'st Ihoii 
there, or dost thy spirit linger with the soul that erst has rooted in the 
gypsy's breast ? Shackels oft bind unwilling hands, but where is th<^ 
padlock for unwilling hearts? 

Enter Goline. 

GoL. Mazzo, you seem disturbed. I trust this little scene has not uu- 
Bettled you with me. You know my sire is boistrous and obtuse, and 
«peaks more rash if may be to his wedded spouse, whom now he watch- 
es with unwinking eyes. 

Maz. Nothing disturbs me other than a brain grown sick with its 
imaginings. I should have sought my pillow but for you, my love. 1 
came to hear the appointment for our marriage day. 

GoL. Right glad I am 'twere not to-night, for since a pillow would 
have ta'en the place of me, 'twere better tired brain should wed it. 

Maz. Goline, I'm in no mood for jokes — the outburst I have wit- 
cessed has unnerved me. If 'tis Hermetus' will to cheek me out, and 



ACT ll] OR, IJETRIin TION. 11 

jours to parley with me, let on ; I will accept my seuteuce at your 
taands. 

GoL. Mazzo, my sire doles on you — but smallest specks grow moun- 
iains in his eyes when they inflame with ire. He was o'er-vexed at 
your delay, and the few^ coin he got not by these means danced in his 
sight like devils in the drink, till ail your visage shone with hungry eyes, 
set to devour on his shining gold. Mazzo, we have been happ3^ as we 
are — the marriage bed perplexes me to fill. Let us go on as yet. 

Maz. a dozen years, and still you say go on ! Pray name a day, 
jour pleasures' distance. 

GoL. Were I to name the day as now I feel, 'twould be as far ahead as 
are the stars, fleeing as we pursue. 

Maz. Gfoline, prepare me kindly if you wili,but scruple not to tell me 
of this change. 

GoL. I am not changed a whit since 1 was born. 'Tis this that chafes 
me. I would unloose these bonds — go out into the world — know if this 
heart so surfeited with love can hunger in its absence — {going to him) 
I have been reading such a sm eet romance— and oh I the heroine, she 
loved in such a way that all her being thrilled at the approach of her 
adorer ! and when he touched her hand, the blood leapt to her cheek — 
ier eyes grew lustrons, and her heart beat on so fast, an hour's lime was 
Teckoued but a minute ! Not thus am I forewarned of your appioach. 
I have a project. You have heard of Nan, the sorceress ? She that, 
can read the planets uis a page, and no'e their concourse with oiu destiny? 

Maz. Let then the fates decide us ; when it shall be your pleasure 1 
attend, 

GoL To-morrow's night is Holly Eve — at sunset are the fates pro- 
pitious. 'Tis far across the hills, an hour's canter will scarce bring us 
Ihere. 

Maz. Our coursers matched in speed shall then unmatch us at your 
will. Golioe, the hour is late — I shall not fail to meet appointment. So 
love, adieu, adieu, {goes.) 

GoL. You are not going till you kiss me ? 

Maz. Kisses from me but curdle in }our veins. 

GoL. You make me most unhappy saying that 1 

Maz. The heart that signals noi at my approach may thrill at my de- 
parture. Good night \ {kisses hand) {Exit 

GoL. How cold beseems tonights! I have offended him, mayhap; 
he's grown o'er-sensitive of late. Why, I have talked like this a hun- 
dred times, and he bns grown the fonder. Good heavens ! if he should 
cease to love me ! 1 never thought he could — I must not let him go like 
this — I will o'ertako him in the garden. [ErK ■ 



ACT IL 

SCENE L Oypsy''s Camp. Nan's Cottage. 

Capo, {ivith pupjiets.) Put her down there, dulfee, put her down. 
Ha, ha, ha ! a clever set and suited well to gobble in the coppers on the 
street. Aye, kings, 'lis said, who shoot their eyeballs from the common 
herd, oft bend their bellies to the puppet's dance. I am in double har- 
ness in my trade : Yoked with an ass and with a beast than which the 



12 THESBA'S babe, [act II 

tlack hyena is more tame and true. He that has taken me for guide ia 
an ass indeed, for while I have an hundred names of heroes in my skull, 
I know not where they hinge to, more than that red doll ! I talk in 
s-hymes ! Ha, ha ! That would go miles with John Brownell — ha, ha ! 
6b, 1 shall pass with him — but Gods defend "the history of Rome I 
But of the beast ! He likes me for ray tricks, aye ! he shall rue the day 
be hired me for tricks! Blacker than the deyil is this Feldamor ; he 
goes skulking in the dark, his eyes like fire, and his grinning jaws oozing 
of ulcerous poison, fed from the carrion of his red hot breath ! Oh, 
pnake ; thou art a dove in fairness to this laughing beast ! 

Enter Gianina. 

GiA Oh Capo ; I'm gone wild with fright. 

Capo What should affright you, pretty one ? 

GiA 1 sat me in the shadow of yon lock, musing within myself, when 
all a sudden something from behind did spring upon me, and with iron 
grip did hold me fast. I screamed, but ere the sound broke on the air, 
a hand clutched at my throat, and like a dog did thrust his face ia mine 
—then knew I it was Feldamor ! I sprang and left my tunic in his 
fcands — look at my flesh, it is all black and poisoned with his touch! 

Capo Has this black sneakling any right to you ? 

GiA I do belong to Nan. Oh, Capo! care for me — I am most wretch- 
ed, born into a life I loathe — despise 

Capo My pretty maid, come wed me; we will fly and be no more 
obeisant to the fiend ! 

Gia Hush, hush ! Be never jumping till you know the leap. I want 
your eyes for lanterns in my dark ; wilt lend them. Capo ? 

Capo My eyes for lanterns ? aye, my sweet ; so they do light the 
^aa'hway for thy feet. 

Gia Capo, I want a friend — if thou'lt be such, call me not but Giani- 
«a, nor ever prattle in a way that makes me hate you. 

Capo Gianina, trust me ; I am eyes, and ears, and hands, and feet, to 
fjee, to hear, to beckon and to run, in your sweet 

Gta Hush! 

Cai'o In your (smacks lips) service. 

Enter ViiJ-ETTE. 

, ViL Old Nan is searching far an near ; vein best go on, 

Gia True, I am over long. I go, [Exit Gia 

Capo, {singing) Oh, stay not, love, away ; come soon, come soon 



ViL. You sing not thus for me. 

Capo. So, so — You never leave me that I may. When I do go why 
eing you not to me ? 

ViL. I would much sooner sing to have you stay. Capo, you're more 
i:-. love with that black Gyp — , than me ! 

Capo. Why think you so, Villette ? 

ViL. I heard you smack her that I did. 

Capo. 1 smacked her so, (smacln Hps) but I will smack you so 



ACT II] OE, RETRIBUTION. l^ 

ViL. You big philaDcler, you ; just give me back that kiss— you stole 
— you stole, you thief ! 
. Capo. Well, here it is. {kisses) 

ViL. Oh, that aint half so big— not half so big ! 

Capo. Villette, I ana busy with the dolls— 

ViL. Busy ! Always busy, when 1 want to play— yon ve been a halt 
an hour with the Gyp. 

Capo. Villette, don't call that pretty creature Gyp. 

ViL. Don't call her Gyp ? Then angel^if you like. 

Capo. So, Villie, that is well ; she is as far above us, as the angels 

are 

ViL. (spitting) I could slap her face ! She haint no prettier than 

me, and can't dance half so well. , . x t-., 

Capo, (taking hold) Give us a trip then, {dances and sings) \il- 
lie, if you love rae, Yillie, if you do 

JE7iter Mazzo and Go line. 

Maz. Let us not interrupt the dance. , , . , . 

Capo. Good ISignor, it is well ; what is your lordship s and the lady s 

Maz. Is yonder hut where lives the sorceress ? The lady would con- 
sult the fates. 

ViL. It is. I will attend the lady if she please. 

GoL. Wilt thou, dear Mazzo, that she let me iu ! (aside) I would 
not have him hear it, for the world, and all 

Maz, It may be better. I will wait outside. 

ViL. and GoL. go to the hut, Vil. rapping, windoiv opens above. 

Nax. Faugh ; faugh ; go 'way ! I want no visitor to night. 

GoL. I wanted to consult the fates. 

Vil. She is a rich one, Nan. 

Nan. I have no mood for divination ; ^o to, go to. 

GoL. (holding up coin) Here, I shall pay you for your service. 

Nan. Small coin brings unpropitious fate on Hoily Eve. 

Maz. (coming up) Here is a lump of gold. 

Nan. Ha, ha, good sire ! Thy bride shall wear a diamond crown . 
(oijcns door) Come here, come here. 

Exeunt Gol. and Villette. Enter Noryo ivith Flute unseen. 

Maz. Whence came the moppet you were tripping with ? I well re- 
member to have seen her face. . ^ , . .u 

Capo This is the Gypsy's camp ; that was \ illette, a minstrel in the 

gang. 

Maz. The same I saw in Rome * 

Capo. Belike, they stroll for miles around.— 

Maz. Tell me, my fellow, where is she that plays upon the harp. Go 
bring her here and I will double this, (gives coin) r ry . r. 

Ctpo She lives along of Nan ; I'll fetch her if I can . [Exit Capo 

Maz Good Heavens ! That I should light upon the spot where 
comes the fawn to sleep. I should not see this vision of the sky, so 



14 THESfJA'S BABE, [ACT 11 

ahall I be dijsnlvc'd iu lier bright-ray, as melts the ^now in i)athway of 
the sun. 

Capo. The fiili oue will not come ; her garments scarcely Liold her 
for their rents, 

Maz. {tcikintjoj)' mantle) Here take my mantle— let it wrap her 
round, I will detain her but a trice. [Exit Capo 

Divinest form I Would I could wrap it in a satin robe, lined all with 
down, and who.«e soft folds would press her not more tenderly than I. 

Enter Gia. face ivvned atvay . 

GiA. Good Signor, with my humblest thanks 1 bless you for this loan. 
He that hath rule of me, would thrust me in your sight — nude as a slave 
upon the bU)ck . 

Maz. Turn here your face, that I may read your gratitude iu smiles. 

GiA. The tears in pity quence my burning cheeks — so shall the}' wash 
away my shame ; bid me not look till every trace is out. What waut 
you, sire ? 

Maz. I know not what till I have seen your face. 

Gia . {turning) It is the painter! He that for gold would bargain 
in my shape ! 

Maz. No, no! I would not buy the, bird, nor touch thine hand — 
though I would eat it for its sweetness . Hide not thyself, Dut under- 
stand me— it were love alone . 

GiA. { jyuttlng off the tvotxis) When high-born gentry talk to Gypsy 
maid of love, then were that passion infamous and bad . Here, take 
Ihy cloak, I will not make a debt, the which if paid e'en in the smallest 
part, would sijuander all ray wealth. Y.m smile at this. Do rags 
make poverty ? Nay ! I have that which many an high-born lady hath 
not, nor yet can buy, with her possessions : it is a jewel like the dia- 
mond, which when 'tis chipped or hath a blemish e'en so slight, is 
never reckoned pure . 

Maz. How shall I woo the, that thou wilt believe? I would befriend 
thee, if thou needst a friend, nor more, if more offend . 

Gia . Gianina weeps I Stranger, thou hast touched a spot so tender 
in my breast, that I would die, could I beiieve thee true! Were I a lady 
born, had I position, had I wealth — then would your wooing savor of 
delight ; but me, a hireling of meanest type*— serf to a fiend — bandaged 
in tatters ! ($h7-inks away) . 

Maz. Here, take the mantle. Have I been unkind that thou distrusts 
the spirit of the loan ? Take it, I pray, if 1 have yet one merit in thine 
eyes. 

Gia. Oh, gentleman, you have been kind— more kind than all the 
world. 

Maz. {putting mantle on) As folds this mantle 'round thy perfect 
self, so binds ray heart the idol of its love ! \Exit Gianina 

Enter Goline and Nan. 

Gol. Mazzo, I have tamed long ; your pardon, love. 
Maz. Has it been long ? I thought you over quick. 



ACT II] OR, RETRIBUTION. 15- 

Nan. {to Goi.. I Good lady, you go Lear ihe music play, (points to 
NoKvo ) wbilsl I undo the fate of this fair gent, {to Maz) You got some 
gold— you no much rich — you wed with raven hair and blue black eyes — 

Maz. {aside) That is my sweet ! 

Nan, She get rich— your bride will wear a diamond crown ! 

Maz. " A diamond crown ! " Nay, that's not likely, save her tresses 
be the crown and her two eyes the diamonds which lie shadowed in the 
thicket of her fringed lids. 

Nan. Not thus ; {going) thy bride shall wear a diamond crown ! 

f Exit Nan 
GoL. coming up 

Goi,. I have been so absorbed in yon sweet youth, I did not hear thy 

fate ; pray tell it rae. 
Maz. "Fair woman does not love me." 
GoL. Aye : and " the white browed artist loves me not." 
Maz. That were a fair exchange ; but come, we must be away. It 

will be midnight ere we cross the hills. 

Goj-iNE throws kiss at Norvo, he the same, Exit Nokvo 
GoL. (going) You shall know all when we are on the way. 
Enter Feldamok. 

Fe).. Hold there, you spooney! You get off. too quick with trifling, 
on the gyps ! Pull out your ducats ! 

Maz. But I did pay the Magi over well. 

Fkl. Your money or your blood ! 

GoL. Oh spare us — but we paid — 

Fel. Shut up, you gobster ! 

Maz. Here, lake the purse ; 'twere cheap at that to rid us of your 
slang, {goes) 

Fel. Halt, noddy ! I want that gew-gaw on your front — pull out ! 

Maz. My watch ? 

Fel. The same. 

GoL. That was a gift of his dead sire. 

Fel. Shut off, you strumpet ; unhitch your trinkets for your inso- 
lence ! 

Maz. I see no help. We are the victims of the bandit Feldamor! 
(hands watch) 

Fel. {striking at Maz) Go to the devil and be d — d ! You heat me, 
and, by Jupiter, I'll wash the sin out in your reeking blood ! 

Gol. Here, take my jewels ; they are costly gems, but by the laws of 
Rome you shall be made to suffer for the crime. 

Fel. Ha, ha ! and thou go witness oa the bandit ! So shall thy flesh 
make carrion in my den ! 

Maz. That is my cloak about your back — I lent it to the maid. Go, 
lake it her to shut her from thy sight, and all this plunder shall be glad- 
ly l3t. {goes) 

Fel. The Gyp. shall strut not in thy rakish garb ; thou didst inflame 
her with ihy sugared spit — she lies with me ere yet the night goes out I 

Maz. May god in vengeance numb thee into death, and spare the 
maid he formed but for himself ! [Exeunt Mazzo and Goline 



lf> thesba's rabe, [act II 

Fel. (looking at watch and money) After much dangling, 1 have 
hooked Ibem in . This comes from hanging women on for bait when 
big fish bite, they must have tempting grub! It was a clever shift when 
1 took in that hag — the boy is over slow — but crawling gatheres wind, 
and 'tis his stock in trade, "since he must blow it out with pooping on the 
fife. The Gyp! Aye; she's the magic that shall turm my grotto to a 
golden cave ! She shall be in ray power ere long, but yet she sets a 
chicken hovered by the hag. Hawks of t grow lean while yet their 
prey is fat'ning— so fats she for my cud'ling. She hates me 
me as gods do devils, but I love her as the devils do the gods, whom 
when they catch do uniform with heaven to officer their troops — thus 
with the countersign of right move train on train, nor prieet nor prelate 
can divide the train. So shall her countenance be fair decoy into a hell 
pit of licentious flames, where princely patrons reveling in their lust, 
shall build a kingdom and a throne for me, over the ashes of her vanish- 
ed life ! Aye, aye ! For me ! I thirst with feverish impatience — My 
tongue is swelled — I taste of blood ! The hag must die! The young- 
'ling feed the trade, while now the festive season i3 at hand ! But hold! 
I send her out to strut — she doth escape me ! Doth escape me ? I 
swear by Jupiter hell shall escape me sooner than this fair devil, plum- 
aged with the saints, shall sail through paradise on snowy wing ! Aye ; 
poised above the gulf with downward eyes on me a vanquished fiend — 
(J — d by her gloating smile and doomed to bear it, yea, eternally, that 
angels may grow happy as they gaze ! Hell and its imps lend hand 
whilst I do plan ! [Exit 

SCENE II. A Street. 

Enter Brownell ivith hags. 

Bro. Well, 1 am vexed at this Mr. Signo Capo. He makes a fool of 
me, sends me to the Spanish places, says he will meet me there. I wait, 
and wait^ 'till half the citizens have split their mouths at me, and just as 
I am off the handle with myself, he heaves in sight and bows and scrapes 
me into humor. I do forget how much great men endure m getting 
great. I want a pastime out of work — I will not get it— small things do 
vex me — I must rise above them — to write a history of Rome, is nothing 
small. Here are my bags stuffed full of notes — I cannot kave them at 
my inn, they would be pilfered in an hour's time — I needs must lug 
them every where I go. I scarce have written up the twins — a month is 
past ! What is the prospect for my history ? 1 dum ; at this 'twould 
take a thousand years to write it, and a fleet of ships to carry all the 
manuscript. I am in trouble with my enterprise— my brain is all afire — 
I see of visions in the air — revolving wheels — electric sparks — leaflets 
like flying chaff 1 I am not mad! it is the fever of necessity! My skull 
is pregnant with a thought! 'Tis born ! A new invention ! I will not 
write a history of Rome bound in a volume like a grammer— no! I will 
have it printed in a primer form — and colored like a fashiouplate — thus 
— History of Rome, by John Brownell, price thirty pence per month— a 
pence a day — Why, juveniles can save that in a candy stick ! But the 
confectioner, he pays my revenue ! Ha, ha ! I might have gone into 



ACl n[ 0K.» KETRIBUTION. 1? 

the taffy ti-ade— it would have footed up the same — pugh, prnxh ! Suc'bi 
sticky words do smear s<i chaste a miud ! No, no! A name ! A i>iori- 
ous name ! 1 wiil proceed at once to close the contract wKb my pub 
lishers — I shall engage them for a hundred years — this makes a permact 
ent transaction — so shall I stay in Rome to furnish notes, and when \ 
die, ray t^on John will furnish notes, and his son John, and his son Jo})];;, 
and so the name of John Brownell shall rins;^ through all eternity ! 

Ca'po. Master historian, (howtnp tow) and have I been the cause ot 
this disturbance in your mind ! 

Bro. Ah, Mr. (.^ajio : better hue than n':^,vei-, it ij^ !-aid, but 1 shv beM-r 
late than early. 

Capo. How so :* What nowr 

Bro. By this, your dally, I have ^.aiued a fortune m :i thoutiia ! 

<'Ai*o. A fortune, man ? to say is io deceive; 

Show me the checks, so seeing, I believe. 

BR(f. I am l)ecome a pensioner — richer than Croesus— which shall eo 
dow my children, ;uid my children's children, and mj' cluluren's chit 
d ren— 

Capo. Hold, in great men^y ! Bile it off and ditto it. 

Bko. We must away — take you this bag — 1 am to ship my manuscMjy* 
at once — hail, history of Rome ! 

Capo. Great man, thine attitude would strike a painter dumb! Go 
thou and get that classic face drawn out, 'twill make a stunning fromis 
piece, for this thy history. 

Bp.o. i^real thought ! That were a fortune of itself! This humblo 
face within so great a book — Glory enough for John Browneii 1 \Er.it 

Capo, (going) I think the dolt is raving mad. 

Enter Mazzo. 

Maz. 'Tis a most fatal dart, that thus hath pierced me! Slain are 
the aspirations of a life time— gone the ambition which as reigning deity 
halh governed me, 'till I, its worshiper, have burned the fagots of my 
own soul's light to throw^ a halo o'er its molten shrine! Gone every- 
thing that was — Oh, what an agony hath this poor clay encased, since 
when my heart went out, leaving an emptiness more vast than continent, 
nor which a heaven full of resurrected dead, trooping in single file could 
occupy ! Naught but the Gypsy's love — so do I want it, were the 
world and paradise mine own, I would exchange them for her occupance 
m this dead place. But comes the clown, and in his company the for 
eigne/. I doubt not 'tis the traveler of whom he spake on yester' night. 

Enter Capo and Bro. with etnpty bags. 

Maz. Ho, Capo; well-a-day. What would you in this quaiter^ 

Capo. Seeking you out to serve my gifted friend. Brownell, this i^ 
the artist, Mazzo. 

Bro. Good day, sire, 3Ir. Mazzo, I trust you never may grow sick 

Mae. So this is the historian, the great historian Brownell . 

Bro. Modestly the same. 

Maz. Thou would'st a portrait for a copy plate? 

Bro. a copper plate ? I thoaghi to have it printed on a steel plaiflj^ 
they're lauded up so high^— take any kind of plated—pewter or 'arthets— 



18 thesba's babe, [act m 

«lt)lg or Hulcr— oijly so 1 do bayti a classic face. — thai was the term appUeil 
4.0 tiiis my blushiDg iJjeek.— 

Biio. Cheek bjr- 

fBuo. By yon fan' poet. 

Ma'z. What would you in desigii. ; a buEt 'i 

Bro. ISio, Mr. Painter, spare me that^— paint me a Hober man. Tliou^fe 
-1 ilo take a tip up now and then, I do not pride myself upon it.. 

Maz. I think 1 understand, you wish li striking altitude? 

Ca»m>. Rett<;r lie strike an attitude than me. 

Bw>. What? Put me up a pugilist ? No, Mr. Painter! Anything 
♦taui kbat. Why, some big Roman would write out a challenge on mc 
'riglti away ! No, no ! I'd run a mile<— thrust this poor body through * 
4ioUt>\v logr— do anything rather than have it said a christian gentlemsME 
•tikt, lue would lay a list on any man. 

Capo. I go his oath on that. 

Maz. You do not comprehend the terras of the profession. You wi^ 
jwu animated face — not in repose? 

Bko. Ob, no ! 1 would not be asleep — no, bless you man, no, no; 
. though 1 have heard ray good old mother say when she has stood above 
jny sweet repose, " oh, what a look of innocence he hath !" 
. Maz. You do — 

Bko. Hold you — it might suggest the hour of inspiration, 1 am m 
•spirevll — no doubt of it. Ah, when I meditate on this my history — suc^i 
•streams of thought come pouring in my brain as could not fljw from aof 
^riitiifm source— they gush — gush — gush — 

Enter Villette unobserved^ beckons to Capo. 

{.yAPO. Good friend, thou'st gushed till thou hast made me dry, turned 
4h\s iisy puncheon to a desert in whose sands uunumbered tongues loll 
and cry out for drink — when I do tap the rock I'll bid you to the gushing — 

Bro. {Looking anxiously after) My poet ^uide is ale-ing, I suspect 
^a'lii secret longings which a friend should share — my swelling bosom 
like au out blown sail carries this empty hnlk, till like a homesick travel- 
er it doth heave — in — port — a moment, and the traveler returns. [Exit 

Maz. Au ignoramus of a man— a bundle of eccentric ignorance. But 
<;ome» flermetns rushing down the street — T doubt not he has spied a 
.gypsy In bis camp. 

Enter FIekmetds. 

Ulioa'rt blowing like a whale, what's up the stream ? 

Her. I want to see you on important business and alone — come we to 
yonder 4nn. 

Max. I have engagements here nor can I leave till that I am dismiss- 
ed of that. Speak on, Hermetus— 

Her. (whispering) Tell me in heaven's name who is this man Goline 
iR ranning daft about ? 

Ma2. I think he is a son of Nan, the witch, by name Norvo. 

Em- {louder) Norvo ! Aye, that's the thing, that's him— she says il 
«m. liak sleep ! She's gone distracted afte>r him— we have to lock her m 



[act h oh, retribution. I'd 

'Jfee gates ! K.')\v \vhat i want is you shoiiid marry h.er :ir once, ;iii<^ pwi- 
a stop to all this cabala. 

Maz, 1 am a sapliog, glulifd fall, stuffed to the gills with pro<^r,v.otK; 
333 your money bags — so says Heimetiis ! 

Hep.. I was bull mad to have asserted it. Vou are a gentlenmn, *j<> 
■m you take Goline, I'll strew your altar with a rain of gold. 

Maz. Not so ; wc ouce \sero pligbttd. bnt ourselves had not a ^ nid 
in't ; the bonds grew never stronger in our liearts, and when they brofe:^ 
'Iwas but as breaks a chain Ihat well has rusted through. 

Her. Not if 1 offer you a palace and a princely revenue : 

Maz. What were palace, if that its sovereign be duty bound:! No^ 
save your gold, 'twill make a handsome present for your tawny son. 
Ooline will have him, so she says, and if you'd save her an ungr.v^ fuf 
leap, you best undo the bars and let her out. 

Hek. Best, did you say ? That you are conjurer in this trick, i do 
Relieve, my soul. Blast you or any other man that dares to set a fool, 
within ray halls! I shall go liome and set a guca'd about my prv!m}s'\<i.V 

Enter Pagf. 

Page. Good master, Lady Goline has tied ! Here is a n<-tc. l?':^:it- 
Hkr. Go to —- you lying scamp! (7o Maz) Here read the Srsrap^' 

33Jore likely the old woman "in a tit-hwr riddles need some tfct in gues»- 

mg. 

Maz. (rtads) When you shail read this nole I shailVe far away, 

aaited to my dear Norvo. 

HEEMETrs ■ntsJu>' abonf, ///roiv-s frnvfUm/ hag.^. Enter BROWNl:^J^ 

Biio. Here, Mr. Painter! .Mr. Painter I He'll jam my ea^pet-^•3ek9 
and break the ketch — 

Maz. Heruietus ; 1 pray you sire, consider where you are, for vd;iU< 
5'on traveiU'i is peaceable enough, he has b»g eyes upon his S>ags. 

Enter Gapo. 

Cai'o. Gooii sire Heriuclns ; your daughter, sire, has got the prfe^t n 
|ob — 

Hee. What ! how, you fool ! Opf^n you out another blast o' thai,. 
I'll strike you at my feet ! (rushes around. Bj^vvnell hide^ bag». 
€m'0 gotnr/) Here,, move a pace til! you have let it out, I'll make vt 
Joot-bali of you, dog ! 

Capo, (aside) 'Twould plague ihe gods to spt-ak and speak not in tHe 
:r>ne breath, (i'o Her.) I want no game of foot-ball with that si?/- of- 
«kibs. 

Though I be mute, I'll loar with belching face. 
Or shout and silent bo, to gain Hermeius' grace. 

Her. You madden me ! Tell me the whole on'i in a word. 

Capo, (ri'shing out) 3b'.rried ! Married ! Married ! 

Her. Monstrous assertion ! Goline gone iuJo breeding Gypj«y hxa-V^t 
I'll split the tongue that blackens ihus ihe scion of Hermctus \ {Exit 

Bro. Mr. Painter, I must go after them. I fear me my dt?ir tri. ruV 
may get the wor.si with ihat grey lunatic! [ExH Birovvy^:^,!. 



^0 THEB1>A\^ 1>ABE, [ACT II 

Maz. So shifts tbe scene that brings nie to myself. To-moirovv'si 
DigUt tbe witch bath granted me an iut(;rvievv with she, uy love— Oh, 
that a sleep like death would shut away the hours from now till then! 
A night racked with unsatisfying hopes, till its duration were an age— u 
day to run the gauntlet through extended line, host upon host, each 
countenance a sneer, each tongue a dart piercing me through and through, 
while from the niuUitude goes up the shouts, "She loves thee not ! She 
)oves thee not!'* Gianina ! 'Tis her name I goto seek thee, press 
tiiy anxious suit, and so ibou lovcst me. Heaven witness thou'it be 
mine. [Exeunt 

SCENE III. Kan^s Hut 

Nan 7'eclming. Gianina 7iea7\ 

GiA. Nanna, you will not die. Oh, do not look so sick and perishing. 

Nan. Child, no ; Nan cannot die, else were her bones acrumbled. 
I ^eath like a stork ne'er feeds on shrunken meat. 

GiA. Nanna, why say you we shall part, if not you die? 

Nan. The devil hath decreed it — I can read it in the planets as Ihey 
turn— Darlin', put here your cheek, Nan wants to kiss it for the last, 
Jast time. 

GiA. Oh Nanna! Kill me, but do not leave me when you go! What 
would become of me ? Thou'st made me like you better than myself. 

Nan. Fie, thou shalt loathe oie when I cast my hide ; tbou'st bedded 
with a snake, played in its shining coils, and sucked the poison of its 
deadly tooth— so have I charmed thee into love. Go you unto the palace 
by the sea, which once 1 shmved you ; take you this locket, give it to 
tiie hands cvf one Termenes ; talk not lo him of Nan — say 'twas a gift 
from one now dead. Go not from him till he has seen the scar upon 
tby neck (it is a birih spot ) he will know the mark. He hath for this 
pame knowledge offered a diamond crown — it shall be thine ! 

GiA. Why talk on so of crowns, when thou dfst know in that same 
tour thou leav'st, the bandit will o'erpower and sieze me. If thou'rt a 
serpent, sting me, let me die ! What, hast thou saved me in my inno- 
cence to fuus condemn me in my riper years, and'dost thou league with 
Feldamor. 

Man. Feldamor ; the gods forbid ! Take you this dirk ; it hath a 
venomed point. Pierce thy sweet flesh and die in that same hour he 
c\otb o'erpower thee. It shall not be — thou hast a lover in whose keep- 
hig thou'lt be safe — 

GiA. A j^tver, Nan ! Not e'en n\yself respects me, since thou hast 
cast me out. Who iheu can love ? 

Nan. Norvo is kin to thee, he is my son, more now I cannot tell. 
Bince he is flown I needs must It ! low. He comes that loves thee ; this 
js the hour. Put on yon scarlet rig, make yourself seemly in his pres- 
ence. 1 will crawl out and wa!ch the crafty bandit — he durst not turn 
f.he socket of my gaze — so cringe the weaker devils in my sight ! \ Exit 

GiA. Cursed is my fate, cursed beyond recall ! Whom can it be that 
€ ounsel'st with tbe witch in my behalf; so I do hate him! It is he that 
gives her !( n ve io swap me off, making herself a snake, that 1 may 
cringe to f<.;'«»vv in her path ! She is not that she says, but what she is 
!* • nie IB dubious — What am I ? Whence the issue ihat did'st bind o\e 



ACT II] (;R, iiETUIBLTiUX. 21 

to a lineage so base, which a proud spirit hath not power to change? To 
meet a lover, did she say ? So will I habit as the sorceress, and know 
his plan of getting on in love. • 

Puts on rig. Rapping at door. 

GiA. Come in ; Come in. 

Enter Mazzo. 

Maz . Is this the cottage of the witch ? 

GiA. Who's this that, guilty, seeks the dark for divination ? 

Maz. It is the artist, whom you bcde to come, with promise that 
Gianina should be here. 

GiA. Aye, aye ; So, so. But dost thou love the maid with that pure 
kind that thou would'st sink thyself to mate her ? 

Maz. So do I hold her in my mind that I would yield my name, my 
love of art, society, aye, sverylhing, to wander in the trackless forest at 
lier side. 

GiA. {throws off mantle) Oh, gentleman, it is myself. 

Maz. My bird, it needs not eyesight to detect thy song. Put herethy 
hand, feel how the thunder beats within my breast. So thy sweet voice 
doth echo in these hollow walls. Thou hast my heart, give thine to me : 
thus shall the tempest in the sunshine sleep. 

GiA. Thou didst nol always love me ? 

Maz. I never loved till now. 

GiA. So then the high born lady did not have thy heart? 

Maz. Nay, more then brother heart, this now she hath. Thou 
wouldsl my past, she that is wizard may undo with thee ; but oow, sweet, 
let me be acquaint if this my wooing is averse to thee ? Gianina. speak ! 
Tell me if I have favor in thy grace — thou still art silent (puts arm 
around) lei me unseal those lips, they burst with nectar, if I sip them 
not. 

GiA. Nay ! When I lend them to thy use, then shall I all be thine. 
U'ncap the fountain and the hidden spring gushes to life, wasting itself 
;n spray 

Maz. Still thou art doubtful or thou dost not love. 

GiA. Dear genflemau, I know not what is love. Tliou must 
have fell before thus to be conscious it were rightly named. 

Maz. When thou dost speak a thousand pulses wait upon thy words : 
^Yheu thou art done they leap about me in such rapidness, I live a life- 
time in a single hour. 

GiA. Not thus Gianina feels, then must it be she doth not love. 

Maz. Tell me, have I no hope that yet thou mayst be thrilled? 

GiA. 1 feel cot that I breathe at all when thou art nigh — my eyelids 
half are shut with with sleepy drowsiness — I dream, the air is full of 
music, so subdued, so soft, it doth intoxicate my brain — I grow acrazed 
— my senses plunge into delirium — so sweet — so holy — that I Hoat on 
wings I 

Maz. (aside) Oh ; it is love I What else could breathe such tender- 
ness ? (to GiA.) Sweet dreamer, make here a pillow while thou sleepst, 
^o thou mayst never wake since that thine ecstacy be love — 

GiA. Love I that was nurtured on the breast of hate ; cradled in vice : 



22 THKSBA'S BABF, [aijT It 

ired by the bread of pluoder : This in exchaoj^e tor Ihy pure heart ! oh, 
ihat I might have died ere 1 had met the torments of this hour— legions 
of spotless angels crowd thy way — their white robes trail not in the 
(>ypsy's path, go thou with them ; roses shall bloom to breathe their 
fragrance, as they kiss thy feet. Go, thou dear gentleman ere thou shalt 
"ook to hate — Go, while in blindness, thou dost think me fair. Oh, leave 
me — Icfive me — I beseech you- leave me ! Go, go : I will not — dare not 
— cannol love — {falh at his feet weeping .) 

Maz, {raising her.) Swee! one, refrain from this. 1 cannot witnef<i> 
it — Gianina — darling — wcrt thou a Magda!eoe» with this ?^ame heart T 
could not love thee less ! Say thou ari mine- say we may never pari- 
:?peak, or in silence I shall read consent. 

GiA. (springing a ira;t/.) Oh, gentleman, thou'st folded rags against 
iihy costly suit ; look, they have stained thee in their contact, ihin-v 
aere the beggar that forgets her filth thus to contaminate her God : 

Maz. Child ! Love I Gianina ! Come to me, let me enfold you I I 
m\ but human, thou art all divin^e ! 

GiA. Not so ; my reason has come back.. Thine arms shall ueV-r eu- 
corapass me again till robes of purity shall cover me. Nanna did oay i 
should be snowy robed, so shall it be when waves of death shall wash 
iway my stains, and over there beyoiid the tlood, kind one, Gianina, 
white and clean, shall dream again upon thy breast. {Tarns to get.) 

Ma/. Thou win not leave me i' 

GiA. Go thou— in kindness go — else will I pierce me in thy sight. — 

Maz. Gianina, for the love I bear, I beg, beseech you, fly with me. 
Nan did agree to it ; w^hy should you refuse ? 

GiA. So doth she hate thee, else she would not thrust a bantling or 
'hine hands. Nanna did say 1 was in wedlock bred, but much I fear me 
it were hard to prove. I know not what I was — but what I am debases 
me enough. 

Maz. Never such soul as thine begotten was in sm ; tbou wast a pri- 
OQal issue from the womb of love. Such allegation doth its record bear, 
written by angels hands — legal accounting heaven copieth not. 

GiA . Thou'dsr fashion me a Peri, saintlier than a dove, but I am not. 
aor ever can be, what thou makest me. 

Maz. I would not have thee changed from thy sweet self. Wast is an 
idle word, art is a present peace, and will be, hath of joys inimortal. Wih 
be my joy ? 

GiA. Here take my vow — I will be thine — in spirit evermore. 

Maz, Give me the casket where the jewel lies; so may T never lo-e 
it. 

GiA. Thou canst not have it, till 'tis silken Hned. Rags were a libel 
m the jewel's worth. Go, lest the bandit track thee out and kill thee. 
Leave me while yet the l^eldame crouches in his path. Go, go. If thou 
dost love me, prove it in thy going. 

Maz. Wilt thou refuse to My with me ' 

GiA. Thou'lt prove thy breeding if thou leaves! me. 

Maz. Bird, thy conditions urge me — T will come again. Will iiiou I 
come ? 

GiA. {turning face, weeps,) I know not, gentleman, if we shall meet 
igain. Good night ; good night. 



ACr U] UH, KETRIBIJTION. 2B 

Ma/. May the ;;<jO(i Angels, hovering o'er thy sleep, 

Make thee lo pillow on thy Mazzo's breast ; 
The while thy spirit, in oblivious dream, 

Joys in consenting that he shares thy rest. [Exit MAZJ^e; ' 

' GiA. 1 want to die — what else can naake me whiles Ail save niy 
spirit is as black as sin ; that must be pure, else would it mate with foul- 
ness asid be hushed. As if to mock me string these Jengths of hair, each 
one ;j, viper that doth sting me. J thought not of it till I saw it matched 
again?? the taiVni'ss of my love. Nanna will leave me, so she says — aye 
in tij:ii hour -ijiy sad soul shall be free {looks at dirk.) This senselesfc 
blade haih death upon its point ; piercing my flesh, 'twill send ray spirit 
to the Lethe wave, whereon the boatman waits. What of the tribute 
money for my passage o'er ? I have nor gold, nor kinship with the dead. 
The Virgin Mary knows not me since ihat she wears no jewels from my 
hand — so shall I stay in purgatory till a thousand centuries go by. Oh, 
vtretched poverty ! that hath not toll wherewith to gain anenlrance 
through the gate upon the *'Jgolden streets." Doomed ! doomed to endless 
torment with the d— d in Hell^! What's this that hugs against my breast ? 
The crucifix ! the locket Nanna gave ! {opens it) It is a face that smileth 
like a fiiend. Sweet locket, (kisses), thou art gold ! I'll sell thee for 
my passport into Heaven ! What's Heaven ? A city on whose slreetf; 
millions of angels crowd all strangers to me, speaking a language that 1 
never knew. No one in waiting for the gypsy there ; no friend m 
Heaven ; aloae in all that multitude of saints, skulking a frightened out- 
cast from their questioning gaze ; there is no place for me — no home — 
no happiness! What's happiness ? 'Tis love. Whats love ? 'TisGod! 
Then did He meet me in my lover's heart, and it was Heaven in his' 
clasping arms ! sweet Heaven, that bideth not save in the hearts affect- 
ions ! To die is but to leave Heaven after me in that my love is here„ 
So shall I live — live till he goes to wait me on the other side. The 
moon is falling from the sky, the hour is late ; Nanna did never leave me 
^us. I feel afraid— I do not like to stay alone— Oh, Nanna! Nanna! 
Why do you make me cry ? There moves a shadow o'er the floor — it is 
the beast ! I saw his eyes glare on me in the dark, (screams) Nanna ! 
Nanna ! 

Door opens. Enter 'Ckv(^. 

Ca-fo. Be not af eared, 'tis I, Capo. 

GiA. Capo, where is Nan ? I am so deadly scart, I thought the ban- 
dit had me. 

Capo. Hist ! There is mischief brewing in the camp. Nan has beet! 
murdered or is thrust aside ! 

GiA. Nanna murdered ! Oh, fateful bloodshed ! 

Capo. Capo is left, he will protect you though the chances are thai 
Peldamor will get you in his clutches if he can. 

GiA. Be sure he will. Capo is there no possible escape ? 

Capo. Be married mine, so we will fly to-night. 

GiA. Fly ; to be a scullion in the street ? No, let him close upon his 
prey. See thou this knite ? 

Capo. The steel is but a needle in its strength, it would not serve yoDi 
In an hour of need. 
^ GxA. Aye, many a secret hides thie Blender blade; 'Twill mai'k hSir 



24 THESBA'S BAB!., ' [act m 

destiuy, or niiuc, av. that 1 fali degen€;iate lo his greed I Nauna is 
dead, poor kind old Nan, but yet her spirit lives. That ! that ! will 
keep me from his hands — I will not die, though J do face the devil in 
his den ! /am no longer child, since that / am beloved ; a lion's cour- 
age runneth in ray veins. Sweet love ! Dear Nanna ! J ara over 
.strong since thou art with me. \ExU Ca3>o 

Enter Feldamok. 

GiA. How dur'fct thou step across the sill 'i 

Fel. Uo, thou art pert ! Come now, my lass, you'll cuddle in the 
Buzzard's nest till morn ! 

GiA. Stand, Feldamor, / fear thee not ! How art thou grown so 
bold ? 

Fel. The bag is dead, the painter, curse him, bleeds upon the sward, 
blubbering your name with his last breath. So you are mine, a bawdry 
for my use ; nor death shall hocus me. since 1 will fit thee tor" mv chum 
in hell ! 

GiA . Art thou the murderer of ray love and Nan ? 

Fel. {shoivs watch) Dost see this trinket ? it did loop his vest ! 

Gai. True ; 1 did see it once upon his front. He wore not any such 
to-night. Feldamor, Nan is not killed ! No, she is here ; her spirit 
doth embolden rae. Thou say'st my love is dead. His heart is in mj 
breast — /felt not the twinge of paid. That thou ait base enough to spill 
their blood I question not. Kill me if thou hast murdered them — prove 
here thy valor in the act. Thou durst not strike ; so do I dare thee and 
defy thy threats ! 

Fel. Ha, ha ! the cat has found her claws ; so shall I pare them io 
my tutelage. Come to my lodge — so thou comest willingly, all's well ; 
refuse me and by all the gods, thy blowsy flesh shall wizen in my den ! 

GiA. Hast thou an honor in thine oath ? And is't for me to choose ? 

Fel. Thou croon'st like the hag ; Thou'st part and lot with her ! ^ 
So doth ray hate consume my beastial fire — but on its funeral pile cao- 
tankeious vengeance burns ! Thou impious toad ! Thou blue aristo- 
crat ! By Hell and Jupiter, I'll starve that blood out of your purple 
veins or hell shall cauterize thy soul ! Go to the charnel and be d — d ! 
Consort with rotting corpses ! Play tag with the ghosts I Blanch I 
Die ! Ha, ha ! Thou dost defy me ! Hist on your carcass ! 

GiA. If thou didst hate me, thou would's spurn to touch. Go, I will 
follow to the den. {.Exeunt 



ACT 111. 

SCENE I. Apartment in Hermettjs' Palace. Enter Claudia. 

Clau. Oh, my ! Oh, my ! Oh, my ! Goline ia married to a gypsy 
— a regular black faced gypsy. Oh, I shall die, I know I shall ! All 
his doin's — Hermetus doin's. I done my best to get him out ; but no, 
he'd have his say that night, and now be gets bis pay. I'm glad ; just; 
glad ! But it will be my death ! Ah, yes, my death ! But who will 
care ? Not he. If 1 was dying in my eins, be would not g( t the priest 



A(n IM I OR, KETRIBUTION. 25 

to save me ! ()h, oh I I haven't shut my eyes a wink smca she ran off 
— Hermetus dr/m's (weeps.) 

Enter Hekmetus imohserved. 

Hek. {walking up and down) Go, blast the varmit ! And my old 
woman — sink her ! All her fault ! I've said them novels would be- 
t waddle her ! All the old woman's fault ! Here I have spent another 
day — a likely cambist to neglect my loans — a very dog on irack — (runs 
into Claudia.) 

Clau. Oh, my head ! 

Hek. Go soak your head ! You've got things in a pretty fuddle. 

Clati. You'd better talk of me ; just see the end of that romantic 
girl! 

Her. Romantic fool ! I'll chain her up head down, get something in 
her brain to physic out this folderol. 

Ci>AU. My iear Goline ! No one could know your sweet poetic tastes 
like me — 

Her. Go sickly bovine, with your bossy calf ! Thou art not weaneO 
from suckhng her, I trow. 

Clau. Hermetus, I am getting in a faint ! My heart — oh, dear, my 
heart ! I feel so strange — one of my dreadful spells — 

Her. Go on, you're doing well. Give us a fit; but mind, seme othes* 
dolt V ill hold your fist, while the young pert gads off to get her future 
in a gypsy camp — 

Clau. (aside) How could he know ? Hermetus, do you say I knew 
Goline was going to the camp ? I never knew it, there ; I never did. 
I that was sick to death, (weeps) the doctor said so. Ob, you cruel, 
cruel man ! 

Enter Julia. 

Jul. Mistress mine own, there is a woman wants to see you baO 
(aside) hem ! (tries to attract Claudia) 

Clau. (still weeping) I cannot see her, bid her go on — 

Her. Show me the trickster ; I do mind this hem, when it doth show 
a kink up in the ej'e — {Exit Hermetus 

Jul. Mistress, mine own ; it is Goline. 

Clau. {rising) Goline ? Where ? Where is Goline ? (starts to go} 

Jul. Mistress, I pray you stay. She has the gypsy too — 

Clau. The Gypsy and his bride ! Oh, the disgrace ! 

Jul. And you did never see such pets of eyes. My, my ; but he's a 
sugar lump, a very sweety of a woman's man ; the perfect essence of 
romancity. I'd rather have him than a king, I had ! 

Clau. Hush you ! — I fear Hermetus will do violence. Heard you 
that wail ? 

Jul. No, mistress mine ; That is yon sycamore that creaks the live- 
long day. Stay you, it will be better if you stay. 

Clau. How looks Goline ? is her eyes swoll'n with grief ? 

Jul. Goline ! Her face is like a bed of pinks ; I almost smelt 'em 
when I kissed her cheek. 

Clau. I must go down ; I cannot remain — 

Jul, Mistress, mine own : and you should mark his bashful lovin' 



26 THESbA'S BAliK, [act Ul 

ways ; he looks down al her, as a school boy on bis first new breecheS(,. 
aod gravy questions it' 'lis him or no. 

Clau. 1 hear uo words. Hermetus must have put them out. 

Jul. There is a hoiden come to smooth the mattei with Hermety&. 
Do nothing fear, the master is o'er fond of that white chick; nothing ma- 
locks his money chests like her soft palaver. 

Clau. Julia, ojo to the door ; I do believe they're all a coming np. 

Jul. Let us set by as though we never thought. 

Clau. Julia, my psalts ; the air oppresses me. 

Jul. Now mistress, you do let the master speak. 

J^'M^er Hermetul, Goline, Norvo, and Capo. GoLiNE/a^^.y /«• CLAr- 
DiA's arms weeping. 

Cavo. Good Claudia, night and day thou hast in labor lain, 
But may so fine a sou make thee forget thy pain. 

Heu. Good Claudia, save tears for funeral obsequies ; this is a day foe 
joy and revelry. Give this our son a welcome, if you will, he's worffc; 
a dozen of your color daubs. 

Claf. {wiping eyes) We welcome you into our heart and home. 

Noir, Thai's all right ; I'm suited in my bargain, glad you like it too. 
(jollne's a pretty girl, a deuced pretty girl. 

Her. Come now, ha, ha ! Wake up the premises, blow loud th« 
horns — ha, ha ! We'll have a glad triumphal ! Gold, cake, and wine 
flow free for Roman citizens to-day ! Come Claudia to my arms — ^h«f 
up — Come son and daughter, all, we'll to the garden for a romp. 

[Exeunt Claudia, Hermetus, Golink and NoRva 

Capo. So runs the world — the mouth goes up or down as pipes tbc 
tune of joy or woe. So the old bluster's going to have a feast ? Ha^ 
ha I The cord that ties the money bag runs from the heart ; loosen it 
there the knots will fall apart. It is the hour in which I am to meet 
the artist — my blood runs cold within me, for she, the saintliest angel of 
his' love, dies every moment in that poisonous den. The hole is in the 
bills whose bowels are a honeycomb of tombs — there lives a hermit oa 
the further side, a monk of wondrous age ; he hath accounting of eac&L 
seam and fissure in the rock ; he did acquaint me that a dozen mem 
conld open up a passage to the den and free the maid — I must away ; an 
hour's delay might see the death watch on her brow. [ExBt 

SCENE II. lliG bandifs cave and exterior of den. Enter YrL- 
. lette with food and flask; approaches den. 

Vil. This is the frightful den. I fear to open lest I fail as dead! 
{unlocks cmd opens') Gianina, are you here ? All is as' silent ass 
tomb — Gianina sleeps — it may be she is dead — I durst not move — this is 
a horrid place— an awful smell of deadness- Gianina, wake ! wake u^ 
it is Villette, with food. (Gianina, rises^ strikes away, falls.) 

Vil. I durst not stay — I shake in very fear ! Gianina ! Gianina 1 

GiA. What is't ? I felt its claws--I thought me Villie spake. 

Vil. Gianina, 'tis Villette, come here to bring you food. 

GiA. How durst thou venture in this place ? So shall thy bones kee^ 
company with mine ! 

Vil. The bandit dead is drunk ; snoring he lay within his lodge : I 
stole me to his side and from a leathern bag did filch these keys ; this one 



M'T hi] or, RETKiHJrriON. 27 

isBlocks the cave and this the den ; here is his !ia*k--lake it aud get of 
3|>irit in thy veins. 

OiA. The flask is Feidanior's — take it from hence. Though every 
Mood drop in me hath an open mouth, pursed out to suck the aroma of 
Me, I bid the starvling feast upon my flesh, gnaw on the muscles in my 
wasted shape, drink of my breath, but taste not the nepenthe of satanic 
last ! Villettc, thou'rt over good, I thought me none did care or pity : 
Capo did come — days have gone by since then. 

V[L. Capo has fled the camp ; he told me could he free you from the 
§uri then he would marry me. 

GiA, Aye, then thou'lt linger in virginity. V'illette, give me the moi- 
M'l 5n thy hand ; I'll try to live, that I may meet my love -so may'st 
&€)U meet with thine, (af sight of food a fiolf starved mongrel rUes. ) 

YiL. (screaramg) The beast ! Look I Holy Virgin save ! Gianina, 
m^ ; its eyes are on thy food ! See, it is moving — what is that 'i Ob, 
His most horrid den -it comes- -it falls — (Villette ^7'/'««p.y Gianina. ) 

GiA. {indting her awcty) Villette, be calmed ; it cannot do thee 
Mrm. A mongrel thing — of dog — of woman — it doth never rise save 
■when the bandit comes or scents it food — rises to fall a shapeless mass. 
It circles round ere it goes off to sleep and once springing its length of 
€^ain did claw me on the cheek. Nanua did tell me hell had firey 
&nds and flames that burned eternal ; that were a cleanly heritage to 
5S»ls foul den ; fire doth purify, consumes malaria, breathes life above 
contagion, makes earth akin to Heaven, This is mj' torment, he that 
pit me here the devil grim, to be his consort were supremest agony. Go 
l^u, Villette ; if thou stay'st longer, thou'lt be d — d, as I. Fly from 
Ifee bandit as thou hop'st for peace. 

ViL. Gianina, as I live I'll seek thee here again. Take thou sweet 
«5>33rage ; we shall yet be free I 

GiA. G*^), Villie, 1 do tremble for thy life. Go. 

V'lL. Thou must get free, else I do lo^e my Capo's husbanding — he 
iseds me not if thou diesl here. 

GiA, We'll die togeiher is thou get'st not off. 

ViL. So must I go. flark, I do liear the bandit shutflinj on the way. 
l%;Ifly. [ExltSu. 

€hA. (coming oat of den) Sweet air, how I do fill myscif with thee ! 
iJfaught of infinitude : power of Almightiness ! life! What's lifer 
Each breath an hour is the mc>re to suffer in its kiss seductive of en- 
•wombed pangs. I ask not now to live, nor 5'et to die, only to meet ni\' 
)&ve in purit}', my love ! mine .' The words sound a monody above my 
ti>5se. a trental for my soul passing the stygian tide. I, that did hold 
:myself accursed, the object of a thought! It seems a vagary conjured in 
lifain oblivious of reason, to be embosomed in caressing aims, shelter- 
•^, protected, honored aud beloved. Great God permit I palsied the 
league that dar'st to mock at Deity — the sun ne'er rises west though half 
® world do obsecrate with heaven. Life's ocean hath no pilot for acrafi 
Me mine, sailing along at mercy of the element, ploughed in its furrows, 
<mt its breakers flung, saying to perish, yet with anxious gaze peering 
Ifeough all the dense fog of distrust to watch the incoming waves, crest- 
f^ with new born hopes. They pass me by — I see them dashed to frag- 
ments on the dark shores of despair! Oh, death !,fllng thy pale bunting 
f/er the dangerous rocks, for T am drifting, drifting to my doom. \ hear 



28 THESBA^S BABE, [ACT IV 

the croakJDg of the Vulturous fiend who, waiting, hungers for my soul, 
Vis Feldamor, he comes ! I'm lost ! Vm lost I {ExU Gia. in den. 

Enter Feldamor. 

Fel. The drunk has left me crusty as Pluto ; he was badly formed for 
wooing maidenheads, but when he won them not, he sieved a charmer 
\ii his charriot and bore her off ; so I, enraged at the reluctance of my 
goddess — ha, ha ! — shall force her to my will ! Aye ! it was play when 
I did ape to hate so fair a Venus. She's grown o'erlean, so must I fatten 
her a while. I want no slimster in my bed o'nights. Puh, puh ! she 
were in better trim a moon ago. A man is less than devil when his grit 
run foremost of his groin, {tries key) what's this ? The den undone ? 
Did I go leave a loop hole for the brat ? (kicks ai'ound) Here hist you 
out ! {(he beast embraces him: throivs off) Go to, you raving slut 
head, {looks around) The Gyp. is gone ! Hell hold me, she is gone [ 
Pluto assist me, she is gone ! Jupiter be d — d ! ( Two men spring into 
den from back opening. Fel. rushes out.) 

First Voice. Here is the monster ; chain him ! (clutches Fel.) 

Second Voice. Drag to the stake— burn him ! 

Fel. (tears away; draws dagger) V\\ gut thy souls ! Away I 

Enter Cat»o. 

Capo. Die, villian ! (fires) I'm thy trickster, (fires) die ! 

Enter Monk. Villette runs in, fakes Capo'vS hand . Enter Ton i . 
Monk kneels above (he corpse of Feldamor — Curtain. 



ACT IV 



6CENE I. Venice. Apartment in Termenes' Palace . Termenks 
sitting . 

Tek. Life is of pungent duress when hope's stellar disk goes down 
ieaying a vacuum of ghastly nothingness and tenebrous despair. Man's 
^)ower creative is, but heaven intercepts when sin doth mark the issue. 
The dark Egyptian, she that won upon me with her philtered sorceries 
(>ore off a son, w^hom in disowning, justice will not duplicate. 1 led a 
Grecian to the alter, fairer than Helen, yet as Mary pure, 'but on the 
glove that nestled in my palm I saw the shadow of another hand. A 
twelvth month past, and on the fragrant breast of Thesba lay the sweet- 
est babe a doting mother's mouth e'er kissed. Kind of her kind, and 
moulded of her shape, she marveled much a consort so devout should 
fipurn the offspring of connubial joy; but ever as I bent to touch, a tawny 
face exultant peered between. The child was stolen, Thesba is in the 
tomb, all that a generous God bequeathed, crushed in the grasp of one 
scorned woman — of Nanopatra 

Enter Geta. 

Geta. Good, my Lord : there waits a beggar, by her look. What is 
thy lordship's will with her ? 



ACT IV] OR, RETKIBUTION. 29 

Ter. Take her theie driblets (hands coin) and aa old man's blessing. 

Geta. Here face is oh ! so pinched and pitiful, no common racca I 
do see so much. She begs not money, but moments with your lordship. 

Ter. a sorrowed look doth come into my breast, as the shunM lamb 
into a shepherd fold o'er which in pity I do bleat 

Geta. Good, Lord ; she hath a look like as an homeless one. 

Ter. Pity the patent of abducted child ! his heart drawn ligaments do 
bind a kingdom's woes. A hand, a tress, a passing dimpled cheek, a 
little grave wet with love's tears and flower strown, all like a dagger 
plunge into the wound, how e'er so closely lime hath stitched it up. 

Geta. My Lord, she hath a look like the sweet lady Thesba, saint 
above. 

Ter. Thoa^rt in thy dotage and thine eye bedimmed. Go, thou ; e'en 
though she hath an eye lash of my love, I'll bleed- die — for a gaze on't. 

Geta- Good, Lord ; ihou'lt have her here? 

Ter. Thou said'st she minded thee of Thesba. If there be semblance 
e'en so slight, thy dear perception shall l^e revenued. 

Geta. Thoa'll give her audience ? 

Trr. I will she comes. (Exit Geta ) Thesba ! the spectral name doth 
send a palsy creeping through my veins, till sluggish clots run in the pur- 
plish tide. Thus death and age do play at hide and seek, death gets the 
game. 

Enter Geta. 

Geta. Good, Lord ; the maid attends. 

Ter. Bid her come in. (Enter Gia. in long close mantle) Here sit 
thee by and rest thy weariness. I would a generous legacy of time since 
thou hast chosen it in lieu of coin. 

Gia. Most noble Signor, I have borne a gift— it is from one gone 
dead. 

Ter. a gift? Nay, hang it on thy neck: I've need not for the 
bauble, thou must own. 

Gia. Kind signor, it doth bear a lady's face -saintly as Agnesc. 

Ter. The more it mateth thee, if that thy countenance be parcel with 
thy grace. Keep yet the toy, and wag on with that voice that hath most 
touching symphony. An old man's utterance is slow and hath a tremble 
in it. Was the dead named that thou could'st tell it me ? 

Gia. Good sir, I know not if I understand. 

Ter. I say— the gift -I mean — (conghs) a cough most troublesome 
to me. Who is't I say ? What one is dead ? 

Gia. The dead are many that I might not name. 

Ter. Who that is dead did send this trinket here ? 

Gia . She that did send the gift said me to name her not, the locket 
hung once on a baby's neck. 

Ter. Give't here ! 'Tis Thesba's face 1 (falls back.) 

Gia. Thou'rt palmg man, (throws off mantle) thou need'st of air, 
{opens sash) poor Signor ! (presses his haed) sweet kind gentleman ! 

Ter. Thou art the child— thou'rt Thesba's babe ! (draws Gia to him) 
Thesba, it is thy child- the mark is here -these are thy treeses— aye, thy 
countenance — thy shape ! Heaven, take the joy — it fits nor earth, nor 
me ! (weeps- ) 



M) THESHA's babe, [act IV 

GfA. Poor one, thy mind is out. I would not it come back so I might 
tenant its sweet oecupance. No one did wet me with such woe, so shall 
5t be entombed through mj' lips entrance (kisses q(t'iears) I feel no 
shrinking in this clasp, nor yet such joy as I have in another's known. 
I feel the place were mine, all mine — I do forget — kind Signer, let me 
off, I grow too fond, if thou dost press rae so. I am a beggar, Sire, a 
MTetched, homeless one. 

Ter. Thou'rt child in woman's shape. ThouVt Thesba and het babe 
grown one, the more to bless 

GiA. (drawing away) What raeanst thou in this Thesba that thou 
nam'st 'i I am of kin to Nan. 

Ter. Child, name her not ; 'twere she that snatched thee from the 
bank — Thesba did give thee birth — she that an angel is. Thy sire is here, 
Heaven claspetb earth, in that thou'rt bound of both. 

Gi4.. Song of my childhood, spirit of holiness, my mother! My 
father ! (falls in /<?> arms). 

IJntcr Gkta. 

Geta. Good mercy me ! What vile adventurer is this ? Master Ter- 
menes. 

Ter. (looking iq), still holding Gia,) What would you ? 

Get. There waits a Roman in the vestibule. 

Tbr. Shut out the world and all its occupants, this happy hour is 
mine. 

Geta. He comes to seek the Gyps3% and his name — 

GiA. (springing i/p) Is what ? 

Geta. Mazzo. 

GiA. It is a gentleman who has been kind to me. Woulds't thou the 
maid retire whilst I speak 'i 

Ter. Go \vait, till thou art summoned by the bell. [BxU Geta 

GiA. It is my lover, he that did woo me in my rags, loves rae better 
Ihan greatness, better than wealth, better than all the world, in that, he 
bath forsaken them for me. Good man, my father, as thou lov'dst 
Thesba, is Gianina loved. 

Trr. My child, I would have audieuce e'er thou see'st thy love ; trust 
birn to me. Go thou into thy chamber, 'twas prepared for thee by thine 
mother's hands ; she did conceive thou would'st return a woman grown, 
and when she, dying, whispered a farewell, she bade me keep it waiting 
till thou'st come. The maid will show you to the room, there you will 
^nd a wardrolie from the costliest fabrics, jewels of rarest quality and 
hue. Go shed thy rags as thou hast thy condition, make thyself fair as 
the sweet soul that nestles in thy flesh, (rings) 

Gta. My mother's hands, her loving hands, toiling for me. Oh, pre- 
cious tokens ot a mother's love, I'll kiss them for a lifetime,till that each 
thread shall bear the impress of my thankfulness. 

£jnter Geta. 

Ter. Take thou this lady to the gilded room ; aasist her as thou dld'st 
the Lady Thesba . 

Geta. What, hast thou gotten married, man ? 

Ter. Go to thy task, thou shalt be duly made acquaint with all. 
Bid Josef to conduct the stranger here . [Exeimf Gi\. and Gkt a 



^CT IV ] OB, RETKIBMTION. ai 

Teh. The grave baih opeued and the dead come lourtb : thrice bless^ 
ed joy whose blossoms spring from out the ashes of decayed hopes. My 
child come back to me, restored by the same power whose shadow hath 
shut out life's sunshine for a score of years, and whose fell hand hath 
traced line after line of suffering on this brow. It is forgiven, in that I 
hope for pardon from my sins. My child returned— ])ut, ah ! there's 
stolen that which cannot be restored — she loves — 'tis given out — and he 
the claimant waits within my halls. My daughter's suitor ; he knows 
not 'tis my daughter, so shall 1 prove him worthy or pronounce hiss 
false. 

Enter Mazzo and Joskf, ivho retires. 

Teh. Intirraity doth make me slow to rise ; sit thou near by. 
Maz. -Tie a rao.st hospitable heart that bids me here, since that my 
eirand brings me not in company of greatness. 

Tkr. I understand thou'rt on a Gypsy hunt. So fine a gentlemac 
should mn a wealthier track ; thou'rt sure no friend of such a beggar ! 
Maz. I canre to see the maid of whom thou speak'st disdainingly. 
Tek. • Tls likely thou hast hunted her to test the oracle^ of fate wiib 
rctereoce lo some sp<^culation thou'st on hand. 

Maz. Good sire, thy bounteous revenue hath made of thee a stranger 
to the poor — many an angel trails- a tattered gown and bows ignoble ir 
the plebian dust. The Gypsy hath a soul above her state. 

Tkr. Thou'rt half in love with her I tiow; she hath won on thee with 
her pretty face, thou 'It over it another change of moon. 

Maz. I love the Gypsy, love her as my life, and though the moon and 
sun change places, it will not shift the orbit of my choice. 

Ter. Young sire, thy stale is not like the many who, svhile they lead 
a princess into court and smile obedience to her glittering wand, have 
yet to own the power of a touch, a lender word, a sigh, from her the 
simple maiden who hath gotten the heart. 

Maz. I find not pleasure in this interview since that thou understand'st 
me not. Wilt thou I longer wait ere I do see the maid ? 

Ter. Stay thou l ill that my daughter shall have come. Though I do 
say it she's the fairest maid since that old Troy was sacked in woman's 
cause. 

Maz . The pictures we behold are what the lens of our perceptioa 
makes them. Greater or less a thing of beauty as the heart's love doth 
magnify and color them. 

Ter. Would I might show thee as thyself art seen, so would'st thou 
be persuaded from thy course and seek thy mate from gayer plumaged 
bird. What say you to the pheasant of Termenes ? I'm free to own 
thou suit'st me for an heir. 
Maz. Would'st thou so like me if I were false ? 
Tkb. Thine heart is large enough for this my daughter and the Gypsy 
too. 

MAZ. What ! Would'st thou give thy seed unto a bigamist ? 
Ter . My daughter loves thee with the self same passion as thy dusky 
maid. 

Maz. Thou speak'st in parables profound and 'plexing. How can she 
love one whom she never saw ? 
Ter. Thou'st seen her and I wot, thou hast caressed and fondled her. 



:i2 IHKSBA'S UABK, r^CT IV 

Maz. Thou doht uol know me, or tboa'si been c'.i^coived by thine in- 
formant. 1 never knew the daughter of Terraenes, nor can 1 be per- 
suaded ihere exists a heart with love such as Gianina's. 

Ter. Hear then ; the Gypsy thou think'st thine— did lay within these 
arms, hugging my breast, scarcely an hour ago. 

Maz. 'Tis monstrous perfidy ! Thyself art curst if that thy words 
have shadow of a ti-uth. That she my love, scarcely consenting to her 
lover's clasp, should lie a ready fondling on another's breast! 'Tis false, 
false as thj'self ! The charge is inHmovis— (turns to go) 

Entci' GiANiNA, veiled. 

Tee. Wait thou ; Termenes' daughtei doth attend with knowledge of 
the Gypsy's whcre'bouts. [Exit Ter 

Maz. Most honored lady, I do wish thee well, though we be strangers. 

GiA. Strangers ? Thou dost not then remember to have met me. 1 
saw thee in the streets of Rome, and since that hour have loved thee 
with a passion whose devouring flame hath eaten of my soul, turned 
night-time into day, thrust back the clowds till that in heaven's bright- 
ness I grow blind, and arope the veriest beggar for thy hand. 

3Iaz. Kind lady, thou speak'st strangely to a man thou'st met but 
but once ; but ere thou hop'st, know thou that I am plighted, all my 
sense and soul, to a fair Gypsy maid — she that did come with message to 
Termenes ; 'tis her I seek. 

GiA. The mendicant hath gone, thou 'it never see her as thou hast 
been wont. 

Maz . Gone i Gone ? 

GiA . Spare my poor ears; thou sing'st of gone in tones that deafen me. 
Here, take my hand ; — thou mayest kiss it if thou fiud'st the Gyp with- 
in these walls. 

Maz . {takes hand) The hand, (aside) Gianina's own— is wondrous 
fair ; (aside) it is my love I So I do have it, I'll forego the search. 
(kisses hand). 

GiA . Thou'rt rude ; but yet a little rudeness kindly meant were better 
than a tame conspiracy. I would thou lov'dst me as thou bv'st the 
maid. 

Maz. (putting arm around) That I do love thee heaven witness it! 

GiA. (drawing a?.£;a^) Hast thou forgotten then thy gypsy love ? 

Maz. I have no love save she that blesses me in this same hour. 

GiA. Art thou not plighted to another's heart ? Thyself hath said it. 

Maz. So doth thy being revel in my sense, I know not, care not, what 
I may have said ; so that thou press me and art ever near-— wilt thou be 
mine — for ever mine ? 

GiA. (aside) H e loves me not ! He loves me not ! Tell me, in 
heaven's name — Kind gentleman, should I consent would not some fair- 
er grace win thee away ? Untrue to one meaneth untrue to all, 

Maz. Angels, bear witness, in this my heart thou reign'st omnipotent. 
A goddess at whose shrine all that within me is bows and doth wor- 
ship. 

GiA. (aside) Oh, God ! That I should live for this ! Thou knowest 
not what is underneath this veil. 

Maz. Bind thou mine eyes, and I will venture for a guess. (Gia, 
bi7ids eyes) It is the fairest maid m all of Venice, one who in proving 



ACT l\] OR, RETRIBUTION. 33 

other's love, hath shown her owe fond heart. My bird, my own dear 
love, it is— Gianina ! (Ma^zo takes off hand. Gianina unveils) 

GiA. How could'st thou know her in this altered state? 

Maz. Ai^ knows the jay the twitter of it? mate. Wha» means this 
ohcnge ; an thou adopted of Termenes ? 

GiA. f am the daughter of Termenee, by the ties of blood. Nanna 
did steal me from my mother's arms — she that is now a saint— bore me 
away into the Gypsy's camp, smce when, until I brought the message 
yesternighi, I have been mouraad as dead. Oh, Mazzo, it is like I 
dreamt. 

Enter Termbnes. 

GiA. {going to Teb.) My father mine, {kisses hand) this is the lover 
whom thou heard'si me say, my most true Mazzo. 

Teb. .Welcome, good welcome to my grateful heart. How swells 
thy love, is jt no! Urge enough for this my daughter and the gyp&y too ? 

Maz. Mosi reverend sire, I am an huniblr^ artisan of Rome and came 
not as a guest, thou kuow'st. 

Ter. Thou hast a heart as huu of Nazareth, lo lift the face cloth 
from a thing while all around do say " it stinkeih." Into the charne! 
of the grave bound Sv)ul thou'si poured the sunshine of divinest trust, till 
the blanched hope, flushed with incommg life, mounts like an eaglet to 
to its kindred crag, with downward gaze on the incongruous world, 

Maz. So high 't has perched 1 may not bring if down. Mine was a 
iowly maid ; she scttrce consenting, what have I to hope in this a prin- 
ticss' love ? 

GiA. I gave the jewel to my love so kind, 

Take now the casket, it is " silken lined." 

Ter. Thus in consenting thou art grown to one, wedded is all save tn?i; 
which man accounts ; — so all impatient wait I for my love as thou bast 
waited thine, so doth anticipation lend me wings, that I do hurry death, 
whose nuptial rue will bind to an eternity of joy. The sands run low, 
I. would they lasted til! the priest haih ble^^sed thy nmxy. Bid in thy 
friends, I will a banquet for thy marriage day, so shall new brancbp'- 
trim the gnarled trunk, ere yet the top be fall'n to the ground. 

GiA. Dear father, shall I sob or sigh? Smile or bow down in grief ? 

Ter. Thou sob'st to have me die. Go thou with thy dear one in some 
sweet place, and leaning on his breast learn theje what were the senti- 
ments, or smiles, or tears. Go while I rest ; if thou return'st clear eyed, 
— thou'st drunk the nectar'd drop, if they be swollen, thou hast mistaken 
where thine heart is set. {lies on sofa) 

GiA. {covering with mantle) Good father, rest. Mazzo, wilt come? 
I have a volume of best news to tell. [Exeurd Gia. and Maz. 

Enter Nan. clad as ghost 

Nan. Ha ! This is the palace of Termenes, gilded and trapped out 
with his cursed gold. Nothing astir in all the premises— I knocked three 
times upon the gate, the guard did open and at sight of me fell down as 
dead. Armed to the teeth with dagger points and clubs struck dumb 
an<l senseless at a spectral rag ! Ha I What's this ? A sleeper sleeps. 
Come now, old Sig., what dreamest thou ? Old man, wake thee not o' 



34 thesba's babe, [act iv 

this, else thou do see thy^randame's ghost. Who's this that has Ter- 
menes' couDtenance ? Termenes' beard's sloe black, he had not any 
crows feet on his flesh — Tis he ! Tis he ! Yea, twenty winters hath 
him bleached to this, and from these talons hath grown out the 
claws that clutch about his face. Look thou Nanopatra, and laugh at 
this thy handiwork. Termenes ! Termenes ! Tliis heart of stone did 
run as wax to thee — this shriveled hide blushed damask in thy hand. 
What if I hocked a frog bone on thee to compel thy love, 'twas as an 
angler would hook in a fish, to glut starvation. I pulled Ihee in, but 
flopping thou slid'st back to bite a fairer bait. The hunger (leases not ; 
't has gnawed me, gnawed me to the bone. At sight of thee, the mouth 
holes in my skin do run with drool,till in its slimy stream, death's captain 
waits to piK't me across. A cat-ish yearning stru.ogles in my sense to suck 
thy breath,so thou may'sl habit this vile tenement with me. A thousand 
fangs scarlet with feverish thirst, do pierc like needles all my famished 
life, begging thy red blood foi a drink ! Termenes ! ( Ter. starts) 
Ter. (calls) Thesba ! Thesba ! (sees ghost ; swoons. ) 
Nan. Thesba not me ! the name hath summoned up the hosts of 
Taitarus! Typhoeus hath risen from the tomb of vEtna — he leaps upon 
thee ! A hundred dragon heads do spit their vengeance on thy name ! 
His fire spurting nostrils, licking up thy blood, shall blast thy soul ! 
Termenes, die ! I hate thee ! Thine heart of flint hath sent a spark in- 
to this tindered hulk ! I burn as Hell ! Die! {stands with dagger 
over Ter.) 

F/nter Gianina. 

GiA. What's this Ihat mocks the slumbei of my sire I 'Tis Nanna's 
ghost, come here to haunt Termenes ! Her fingers hang upon the air 
above his rest sketching some horrid dream ! {goes to ghost, falls 
back) Nanna, go back; go back and stay a little while. Come not to 
cast a cloud over the crimson dawn of this my weddiqg day. Go slay in 
purgatory till to-morrow's night, I'll sell the diamond crown Termenes 
gave to buy thee out. Go, Nanna, for Giajina, go. (Nan. falls back 
with extended arms as if in blessing. Exit Nan. Gia. bends over 
couch. &cene closes in.) 

SCENE n. Termenes on couch. Josef and Geta attendant. 

Geta. The master sleeps o'er long ; jog on his arm, his soul hath got 
not any service yet. 

Josef. His prayers are said, and the good priest hath broke the body 
of the Lord to him ; let him sleep on. 

Geta. Mind'st thou how the good lady Thesba, naming her beads, 
did pause with her dead fingers f n the Virgin Mary's name ? Saints 
above ! (Josef shakes head, is silent) 

Geta. Josef, get out o' this. Thou'st got thee on a holy melancholy 
since thou did'st spy the ghost. It meant not me, nor thee ; 'twas 
Thesba in her angle robe flown down to warn thee of the master's death. 

Josef. 'Twer never she, my lady, nor a spirit fitting the condition 
of Termenes ; a devilish hag with snakish eyes, and tongue that wagged 
and hissed at me. 

Gkta. Hissing weio as it said, nor she-e nor the-e. 



ACT IV J OR, RETRIBUTION. 35 

Josef. When run you in the company of ghosts to get ghost Latin so 
to heart ? 

Geta. The master rouses ; 'tend you his wants. 

Josef. He rolls his eyes and hath a deathly look. 

Geta. What ! Think you he dies before the weddingers be come ? 

Josef. A likely wedding's day be this, right in the eyes o' death. 
Poor Lady sweet ! Good heart, clean broke over her missin' younglin' 
now come back and gelling married to a man by the same Priest that 
done her christ'niog. Mercy me ! 

Geta. "Married i<> a man," Josef. You talk as though 'twere an un- 
common case. We two have known the whole on't. Well nigh a score 
of years we've run to oless the wants of yon old man. Poor soul, the 
hulk is drifting fast upon the rocks. Saints attend ! 

Ter. {faintlif) Josef — how long — before — Ihey come ? I've had a 
vision — slie my love — waits — waits — give me to — wet — my lips — 

JoHEF.. Here is the water, master. 

Ter. Think you — they come? 

Geta. I will look out and see if I do get a sight at them {opens sash) 
aye, aye ; far up the great canal, just heaving from yon bridge, I see the 
fleet of Gondola. See you yon banner, Josef, it bears the lion of St. 
Marks, so must a priest be coming with the twain. 

Ter. Hark, I do hear a joyful wedding strain ! — hear'st — thou — 
Jrtsef — 

Josef Good master, I do mark it well. 

Geta. Master, compose yourself ; they be already come. 

Josef Take thou these drops, they will of strength. 

Geta. Heard'st thou the pageant on the portico? (sound of music) 

Ter. Raise me — a little up — light up the candles — the room is — dark — 
so — daik — 

Enter Priest^ Gianina and Mazzo, Goline and Nonvo, Claudia and 
Hermetus, Villettk and Capo, Bbownell with bags. 

Priest, {advancing to couch) By all the holy powers on me con- 
ferred, most noble Termenes, I do present these unto thee as one. (Qia. 
and Maz. kneel by couch) 

Ter. My — bless — ing — rest — upon thy — head — daughter — and — son — 
of Thesba andr-Termenes. Keep thou — this palace — ours is up — above 
— the mansion — of — the — blest. [Dies 

Priest, 'Tis over {priest prayiug, all bow.) 

Exter Nan. covered in white ; stealthily approaches ; Brow2ibll 
seeing., hides bags. 

Josef. Master Termenes — dead — 

Nan. Dead! {all start) Dead! Termenes — gone — {throws off 
sheet., straightens to full height) Death cheats Nanopatra's revenge! 
Earth gives not settlement ! We'll meet before the bar of Justice \ 
(stabs herself) 

CURTAIN. 



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